Cops Forget Not Guilty Doesn't Mean Innocent, When It's One of Their Own

Cops accused of wide array of misconduct found not guilty, jurors said evidence was lacking

A jury of twelve found six former Philadelphia narcotics officers charged with racketeering, violating the civil rights of suspects, and other crimes, not guilty. Another former officer, Jeffrey Walker, turned state's evidence, and the case against the cops was built largely on his testimony and that of the officers' victims, identified as drug suspects by the nature of the officers work.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey fired the six officers, but now their lawyers are demanding the cops get an apology. Philly.com reports:

"The commissioner of our city owes these guys an apology," McMahon said. "When he says to these men that their badges should be burned and this is the worst case he's seen, when he didn't even know the facts, he is not a commissioner of these men. He's not a loyal guy at all. That's not a leader of men, and he should apologize to them."

The lawyer for at least one of the officers predicts they'll get their jobs back too because it appeared "the allegations were meritless." Philly.com reports the allegations:

In six weeks of testimony, government witnesses repeatedly said the squad conducted their duties like street thugs. They accused the officers of employing ganglike tactics like roughing up drug suspects, ignoring due process, planting evidence, pocketing seized money and lying on official police reports to cover up their crimes.

Targets who put up a fight, they said, were dangled over balconies, threatened with the seizure of their homes, held in hotel rooms for days, or beaten as the officers kept score on who could inflict the most debilitating injuries.

Prosecutors alleged that Police Department top brass never asked too many questions because the squad was one of the most productive on the force, often raking in large hauls of seized money and drugs.

The officers' supervisors testified on their behalf, saying they had never seen anything untoward, even on multiple raids they observed where some of the alleged misconduct took place. McMahon would probably consider them each a "loyal guy" and "leader of men."

Failing to find someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt is not the same as a finding of innocence. Police officers, who can threaten to take people's property or life, should be held to a higher standard. There's even one being misapplied by the feds in the higher education system that might fit better.

The district attorney threw out more than 270 cases based on the cops' testimony after the FBI began investigating more than two years ago.

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Prosecutors alleged that Police Department top brass never asked too many questions because the squad was one of the most productive on the force, often raking in large hauls of seized money and drugs.

Why are these fucks allowed to surrender like gentlemen? They’re not gentlemen, they’re thugs. Go to their homes, kick in the door, drag them out in handcuffs and parade them in front of the TV cameras like any other criminal.

“Failing to find someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt is not the same as a finding of innocence.”

I hate cops, but this is incorrect. The defendant is presumed innocent. That presumption continues unless or until the government establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If the government does not establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt then the presumption of innocence stands.

These are legal terms, if you’re trying to use them colloquially you should so specify; otherwise they have a specific legal meaning that you should respect.

government witnesses repeatedly said the squad conducted their duties like street thugs. They accused the officers of employing ganglike tactics like roughing up drug suspects, ignoring due process, planting evidence, pocketing seized money and lying on official police reports to cover up their crimes.

It’s almost like the only difference between governments and the mafia is PR. Color me shocked that enforcers for an organization openly claiming the power to take other’s people’s money and freedom without their consent — do just that.

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@RonGood I agree, the wording in the article is either unfortunate or the article is incorrect.

The problem is that there are so many conflicts of interest. It’s essentially the government vs the people. UNLESS the accused is a police officer, in which case it’s the government vs, the government, and too often the government is more than too willing to go easy on the accused in that case. “Presumed innocent” is something that our forefathers probably intended more to protect the people from the government. Unfortunately as I stated, there are conflicts of interests that prevent both the people and government individuals from getting a fair trial. For people, as I stated, the prosecutor, judge, and police are all government officials. Fortunately there is the jury system, but it isn’t perfect, we forget the “presumed innocent” part because we allow ourselves to assume the person is guilty and in need of proving their innocence rather than rather than innocent until proven guilty. For police, it is the opposite problem, we see them as benign and likely to be innocent, and the government is often easy on them not showing things that could actually be proof of their guilt. And that is if it even gets that far. It might not even get an indictment.

It is important to recognize that while “not guilty” is not proof of innocence, that innocence is presumed, and it is up to the people to ensure that everybody gets a fair trail, not biased for or against the accused.